GOP aides head to K St. for tech war

A pair of senior Hill aides at the center of a brewing battle between Hollywood and Silicon Valley are packing their bags for K Street, where they’ll work for two of the entertainment lobby shops trying to influence their former colleagues in Congress on the very same issue.

Allison Halataei, former deputy chief of staff and parliamentarian to House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), and Lauren Pastarnack, a Republican who has served as a senior aide on the Senate Judiciary Committee, worked on online piracy bills that would push Internet companies like Google, Yahoo and Facebook to shut down websites that offer illegal copies of blockbuster films and chart-topping songs.

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POLITICO 44

Halataei recently joined the National Music Publishers’ Association, and Pastarnack is jumping to the Motion Pictures Association of America, two lobbying groups pressing Congress to pass the proposals.

The departures are a classic example of the revolving door between Capitol Hill and downtown, where the private sector lures well-connected staffers just as a high-stakes legislative battle heats up. The goal is straightforward: leverage the insight, connections and expertise of an insider to tip the scales in their favor.

“This is one of those mega-fights where there is a lot of money at stake and whenever it gets to that, it’s kind of ‘Katy bar the door’ as far as what they’ll pay for talent,” said McCormick Group headhunter Ivan Adler. “This fits into the perfect scenario of why senior-level people from well-placed committees get hired, and it’s because they really know the three p’s: people, policy and process. And that makes them very valuable in the Washington marketplace.”

NMPA President David Israelite dismissed the idea that Halataei was hired because of the ongoing legislative battle.

“It has nothing to do with pending legislation,” Israelite said. Allison “knows our issues, has really good relationships across the aisle and is a very smart lawyer.”

Further, Israelite said, hiring Halataei would be “nothing but hurtful to our effort” and cited Smith’s support since he introduced the House version of the piracy bill. Smith’s committee is slated to mark up the bill as early as next week.

MPAA spokesman Howard Gantman declined to comment.

Pastarnack’s portfolio during her tenure on the panel was heavily focused on immigration and judicial nominations.

Senate Judiciary Committee spokeswoman Beth Levine said “those issues have nothing to do with Protect IP or online piracy.”

One former GOP aide who works on these issues, Carl Thorsen, said departures like this can actually help the process.

“Professionals who bring this kind of experience with them downtown generally improve the process all around, and their involvement is a positive regardless of who they represent,” said Thorsen, who is a contract lobbyist for NMPA through his firm Thorsen French Advocacy. “Alli Halataei and Lauren Pastarnack are both savvy and well-regarded professionals, and I am thrilled they will be involved in the debate surrounding these important issues.”

The revolving door continues to revolve. Money-money-public interest-private interest-government-lobby-business-money-profits-general welfare-money -- the more it spins, the more confused and lost they become; the dizzier and more disoriented they are. When will it end?

I know most people won't like hearing this, but maybe it has something to do with how little our staffers actually get paid. They sure don't get paid chump change, but the private sector pay much better right out the gate. Hill staffers take a pay cut for years with the hopes of joining a lobby or government relations for a company.

Face it, our politicians are equipped with the morals of gutter cats. The problem with republics is the same as with monarchies. After a while, the noble intentions at the start are as dead as the noble individuals which founded the kingdom or the republic. (The methods of creation for either are equally bloody.) If we want a representative government, we’ll have to create it. If we want smaller government, we'll have to take out the incentives for its growth. We've become a government OF the thousandaires (the 99%) BY the millionaires (the 1%) FOR the billionaires (the 12,400 individuals identified by the IRS as the people who count (though they don't really count as they hire some thousandaires to run machines to do that.) The first thing we do is change from an elected to a selected form of government. Pick names out an eligible citizen pool and they’re stuck with doing the job for one, and only one, four year term. There should be no such thing as a career in politics. (The only thing worse than getting stuck with somebody who didn’t want the job is getting stuck with some idiot who did, figuring it was going to lift him a few rungs up the social/economic ladder.) Eligibility requirements are: • were you born here or are you a naturalized citizen? • are you a permanent resident in a village, town or city within our borders? • are you above the age of 25? • are you healthy enough? (you don't suffer from any clinical health issue(s) or mental impairment(s) which would prevent you from fulfilling your duties?) • have you NEVER served on the government before? • have you NEVER been found guilty of a violent crime? • have you NEVER been found to be clinically insane? Answer yes to all of these questions, you’re eligible for selection. Don’t want to be bothered? Go live elsewhere! That would get rid of all PACs, K Street lobbyists, a lot of graft, waste and expense that WE'RE all paying for.

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